The buzz started around 3:30 p.m. CST Monday afternoon when the Chicago White Sox clubhouse opened up.
The number of cameramen was at least three or four times the normal amount for a series opener.
The suspense built all throughout the afternoon and early evening and small specks of stories began to break.
It lasted all the way up until the final out as Sergio Santos struck out Adam Lind (after giving up two runs and loading the bases) to seal Dylan Axelrod‘s first career victory.
Ozzie Guillen is no longer the manager of the Chicago White Sox.
Real emotion was absent from Ozzie’s postgame presser.
Paul Konerko and A.J. Pierzynski, too.
PK said it best – this regime has just run its course.
I came to Chicago in late 2009, only enthralled by the legend of Ozzie Guillen from only what ESPN showed me.
When I started covering the games in 2010, I noticed something missing from both Ozzie and Cubs manager Lou Piniella. The fire that made both of them who they are was toned down considerably, as if the high-energy days were behind them.
Victims of being at the helm of bad, bad baseball teams, perhaps. It’s even likely.
Whatever the reasons are, Ozzie needed a change, and so do the White Sox. Nobody is to blame here, it’s just the seven-year itch that lasted eight years.
Guillen asked to be released from the remainder of his contract so he could pursue other opportunities. The popular rumor is the Marlins. The bombshell would be the Cubs (you’d love it).
Whoever is hired as manager – it could come from within or afar – will be 180 degrees from Ozzie’s temperament, I can guarantee that.
As the White Sox say goodbye to Ozzie on Monday, it could be Mark Buehrle on Tuesday.
The lefty makes his final start of the season, and perhaps career, as a White Sox.
Follow me on Twitter for updates from the field tomorrow, including more Ozzie reaction.